The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick, London, announces its first season in its new building. Six productions running from July 2026 to April 2027, including a 50th-anniversary revival of Ntozake Shange‘s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf directed by Diane Page, Holly Robinson‘s adaptation of Mrs Dalloway, and Ian McKellen returning to the stage in Lear, reimagined by Artistic Director Jay Miller and playwright Simon Stephens.
The Yard opened in 2011 in a Hackney Wick warehouse built with a team of fifty volunteers, a £9,000 Arts Council England grant and materials reclaimed from the Olympic Park. It was meant to last six months. 15 years on, the original building has been demolished and replaced with an entirely new venue on the same spot. Designed from scratch by RIBA award-winning Takero Shimazaki Architects, the new Yard is more than twice the size of the original.
A 220-seat curved auditorium. A six-storey natural ventilation chimney. Reused brick from the original building. Low-carbon products throughout. A dedicated space for the venue’s artist development programme working with young people from primary age through to young professionals. New backstage, dressing rooms and office facilities.
Tickets start at £10 across every production. There are £5 tickets on the door for under-27s through No Empty Seats, the venue’s scheme running since 2017. Premium tickets fund the cheapest ones. Every production starts at £10, McKellen’s Lear or a debut play.
Founder & Artistic Director Jay Miller says:
“In 2011 I opened The Yard as a DIY theatre that was supposed to be here for six months. On The Yard’s 15th anniversary, I’ll open it again. Same spirit, this time in a better, bigger theatre. In the 12 months we’ve been closed, we’ve been playing with shows that pop. A debut play by Troy Hunter; toy dolls playing with Jackie Collins; a brilliant actor playing in ways he’s never played before. Virginia Woolf, Ntozake Shange, and the world’s worst band, all on the same stage in the same season. They said it wouldn’t happen. It’s happening. Deep breath in.”
The Yard also announces the appointment of writer Dipo Baruwa-Etti as New Work Associate. Baruwa-Etti, whose An unfinished man, premiered at The Yard in 2022, joins the artistic team to lead on developing new writing and supporting the next generation of artists through The Yard’s commissioning programme.
NEED TO KNOW:
- The Yard Theatre, Queen’s Yard, Hackney Wick, London E9 5EN
- £5 on the door for under-27s with our No Empty Seats scheme, running since 2017. Concessions available for those 65+, under 27, unwaged, in education and with access needs. £10 and up for everyone else. Every production. Every night.
New memberships are being launched this season alongside the new building. Yard Card (free): a drink on arrival, bar discounts, exclusive news, every fourth ticket free. Yard Regulars (£60/year): everything in Yard Card, plus priority booking and news ahead of the public.
Yard Residents (£150/year): everything in Yard Card & Regulars, plus earlier access to priority booking, invitations to galas, season launches and members-only nights. Sign up at theyardtheatre.co.uk/memberships
